To ask if there's anyone here who DOESN'T think it will be as bad as others make out [title edited by MNHQ]?

[Bubblybubbly]

Interested to know if there's anyone here who doesn't think that there will definitely be a recession, housing market collapse, years of trying to get back on our feet etc etc...?

My view is 'I have no idea what's going to happen', I don't want to commit to anything more than that right now but I've heard a few people on either side of the argument from 'everything will be shit' to 'it will be completely fine'. I'm interested to hear from anyone who doesn't think it will be as bad as it seems to be made out on here?

I guess it depends what you think will happen and to what extent. We are both keyworkers and have a mortgage well within our means, we aren't planning to sell anytime soon and our jobs are secure. We are lucky enough to be able to absorb price hikes for bills and groceries etc and so for us it will probably be okay. It's a very privelledged position though, and will still be impacted by cuts to services, loss of local (and probably bigger) businesses etc.

We're going to emerge into a different world though. Far fewer small businesses (I suppose for some that means more opportunities).

What really, really worries me is kids leaving school/students leaving college or uni in the next year. There will be different opportunities compared to pre-Coronavirus and so many more people going for them.

Apparently in Hong Kong, 50% of restaurants have gone under...that's the sort of thing I am envisaging here.

See I’d say we are saving money. Yes spending more on electric definitely but dp works from home half the week anyway. DD’s hobbies have been cancelled and payments stopped by the provider, after school club doesn’t need paying For and she doesn’t need the odd tenner here and there for being taken out by friends parents for the day or for lunch or whatever.

No petrol costs which are astronomical for us, as is twice weekly train travel into city center. Have used one car twice and the other not at all. I think the 20% income we are losing is almost being made up for in lack of petrol money being spent and 14 quid a week on train fare. Not to mention the coffees, pastries, lunches bought at work, meals out, birthday parties and presents. About £300 quids worth of stuff I reckon has been cancelled in March and Feb with hobbies, parties, events.

*march and April

It probably doesn't have to be shit. It could be used as a time for new businesses and enterprises to start in replacement of the ones lost. We could learn lessons (like stop destroying our NHS and public services) and become a better society with a better culture.

But I'm gonna guess the gov will use this as an excuse for more austerity more cuts, blame with be passed here and there anywhere other than the tories and the community spirt we have gained will be lost to selfishness and hatred of those different.

I'm haemorrhaging money! DH has had a pay cut and having 6 people in the house full time eating 3 meals per day, plus snacks, is making my shopping bill very high. Having to get everything in one supermarket doesn't help. I certainly won't be coming out of this having saved money. I seem to be spending as much but without getting the nice little extras, like the odd meal out and kids activities.

There are some good financial analyst articles in this. Basically no body knows and a lot seems to depend on how
Much government support is given to small and medium businesses impacted and to those major businesses who have been significantly impacted (eg airlines, insurers etc) and of course the biggest issue is how long it lasts.

The good points are that there is nothing systemically wrong with the global financial system (like there was in the financial crisis) and governments globally are all having to deal with this and will all be motivated to make massive infrastructure spending when this is over.

The bad is that small and medium business who don't have the cash flow will go under and there will be less people with seed money for new businesses to start up. The other bad is that it goes on long enough to create systemic problems - eg mass mortgage defaults.

I do think life will change (but let's not over dramatise, life is always changing, think back ten, twenty years), working from home/ flexible working will become more normal, communities may become
closer, we may all realise that we can do more with less.

My partner has lost their job and due to what they do, is unlikely to find another any time soon.

As we live together, he's entitled to an insultingly small amount of universal credit (less than the cost of feeding one of us for a week, for a whole month) as it assumes I can pick up the shortfall (I cannot).

As a result, we are going to have to leave our rented home, and go - well, we don't know where yet.

We won't be able to find another rental in the short term as he doesn't have a job (and before someone says "the supermarkets are hiring!" - he has applied for every single job he's seen but hasn't had a single response).

We have nowhere to go. We cannot afford to stay here, but there isn't anywhere else to go. Universal credit is useless to us. We have no savings due to longterm illness wiping them out mid-end of last year, nothing we can sell (our shared car - went down to one 6 months ago, thankfully - is on finance due to me needing something reliable for work, so as our only 'asset' we can't sell it). We are extremely low down on the social housing list as we have no children.

3 months ago we were fine. Now we're facing homelessness, and both of us are terrified and barely clinging onto hope. I have no idea how we recover from this - we cannot borrow any more money to cover us as we borrowed to cover the shortfall left by savings last year, confident in the knowledge we were both securely employed and could pay it off. We have nothing. When he finds work again, if we have by some miracle got our landlord to agree to reduce our rent - has already said no once because it 'wasn't his problem' but we are trying again - we will be so in debt with rent arrears and arrears in other things that it could take us years to recover.

We are fucked. He is suicidal. I am terrified. Literally 3 months ago we were a happy, DINK couple with everything ahead of us. Now we are fucked. And scared. And we are the lucky ones - no children, no disabilities, no health issues. SO, so many people's lives are going to be irreperably damaged by this - even if the world doesn't end for the majority, for some people this will be the end of the line because we don't see a way out.

In terms of the housing market, I think flats without gardens will plummet in value, and older houses with big gardens will do better than new builds with postage stamps. A lot of people won't be able to afford to sell bc of needing to get money for paying off the mortgage, so I think the housing market will be very slow, and people will be stuck in properties no longer fitting their needs. Downsizers will be relatively OK.

I might get slaughtered for this but on financial matters I have trust in the Conservatives.always have.It is not in anyones interest to see mass evictions,or people on their knees.Many lessons will have been learned from this crisis and I believe that when we start to come out of it more helpful measures will follow on.I think we will end up paying it back over decades and not straight away ..slowly and surely with no mass panic to balance the books. This crisis has effected us all even the untouchables in government and I genuinely think with what everyone in power has learned and seen and has yet to experience the future may in fact look a little more brighter for all of us in the short to medium term once we are back on an even keel...It is my dearest wish that changes can be made and implemented for all of society for a change. I dont think there will be a mass rush to empty everyones pockets to pay for this I just dont.... We need to heel as a country first after all we have been through and I think government know this too and will take notice.

yelyah22 that sounds incredibly tough. Benefits are so low especially if you don't have children. I don't have any great advice- I guess you have thought through if you could return to your parents (either of you) for a short while, just to regroup, or stay with a friend. It is so hard though when there is not much of a safety net. I don't have the answers for you but just wanted you to know I sympathise for you a lot as I see lots of students struggling now as well as all their casual jobs/prospects of employment next year are slipping away,

I very rarely post. My thoughts and prayers and best wishes are with you and your partner. X

@yelyah22 I'm so sorry you're going through this, so stressful for you. I hope you get yourselves back on hour feet sooner rather than later.